The Brave One
by Ammanalien
Summary: A little Rodney whump cos I needed one... hope you enjoy it! Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

oOo

"Rodney, I know you are not a warrior. I do not expect you to behave like one"

As they move away from the gate, Teyla gives him a smile, that seems to Rodney, condescending. They are discussing their respective places in the team. Rodney is feeling defensive: Sheppard has him on a training programme to improve his combat skills.

"I can be brave too you know!", he retorts.

Teyla ignores Ronon's guffaw and Sheppard's raised eye brows, and says tactfully,

"I am sure you can, Rodney. But, I am here for your defence, so that you may... do... those things..", she seems momentarily lost for the right words, but then finishes swiftly, with a flourish, "...that you do best."

And she throws him a relieved, and radiant smile.

"But you're a woman...", whines Rodney.

He realises his mistake too late, and the Athosian's eyes flash their disapproval and... was there _anger_ too?

"Do not make the mistake, doctor, of dismissing me because of my.. _gender_." She says the last word like it is a profanity, and her lips no longer smile.

Later, they wander through the abandoned complex. Genii were here once; it's dirty and there's a smell of non-specific filth that makes them all pass on lunch. There is an uneasy silence, as Rodney tries to find a cheap way to apologise, but is unsuccessful.

They need a signal boost to call home, so Rodney leaves the stuff with Teyla as he and the other two go on. He sees her competently attach wires and make the required adjustments. She doesn't care to look at Rodney, and he begins to realise that a cheap apology doesn't exist.

They move past a doorway and a click is heard. Sheppard looks alarmed for a moment, and there is even time for both Rodney and Ronon to look shocked, and then...

"Booby trap!", the colonel yells, and everyone scatters to find appropriate shelter. As Rodney turns he sees Teyla, emerging from the passage still pushing stuff into her pack. She has not heard the warning.

Before he really knows what has happened, he has launched himself at the woman, knocking her to the ground. Then he is flattened by a blast of hot sulphurous air, and a noise like a cannon blast.

It's awkward, sprawling on top of a beautiful woman and he bangs his shoulder on something hard, as he goes down.

There is shouting to his right and it's hard to breathe. He realises, then, that his face is pressed into warm and fragrant fabric and this is stifling him. A little embarrassed, he pulls back from what is probably Teyla's chest, with a jerk and...

... like a lightning flash, white hot pain shoots from the back of his neck to the top of his head.

His eyes screw up against the ache gnawing at the top of his spine, but his right hand finds its way there instinctively.

He feels something... but it's not neck; it feels like a buckle off his back pack.

_It popped open_, he thinks, but just then a wave of weakness, has him drooping sideways and with a _thwack_ the side of his face hits the grimy wall.

_Ow_...

Someone says, "No... I am uninjured", and Teyla must still be mad at him because she is kicking at him now. He falls face down in the dirt, when she at last wriggles and kicks herself free. It's cold on the ground and he'd get up if someone would give him a hand.

"Get- ge- m'up", he mumbles between gritty lips.

No one is listening though, so he gets onto wobbly hands and knees in the gloomy passage.

He feels bad about knocking Teyla down, so,

"Sorry... jus' tryin' you know, to...", he says, heaving a great and strangely empty breath," ... help."

He is kneeling, or at least it feels like he is kneeling, close to the wall with one cold cheek and a bruised shoulder resting there. It's chilly and his nose is running, so he sniffs loudly and wipes at it with a sleeve covered hand.

Voices drift in...

"Are we all okay?"

"His nose is bleeding... McKay? Here..." A crinkly wrapped package bumps off his knee; it's a dressing.

He raises his sleepy head, and sees his three team mates standing whole and undamaged in front of him.

Teyla smiles a small smile, and says coyly, hands on hips,

"You did not have to prove yourself so soon, Rodney... but I thank you nonetheless"

Glancing down he sees his hands and they are bloodied, streaked with red, garish in the half light.

Suddenly, Teyla is there kneeling opposite him like a mirror image. She tears open the package and presses the wadding into his hand,

"Next time, do not push with your _head_...", she admonishes, but the words are said lightly and her eyes dance.

It occurs to Rodney, just then, that she is one of the strongest and most courageous people that he has ever known... and she is his friend.

Emotions well up and there is nothing he can do to stop the tears that squeeze from his eyes.

"M'sorry, T-Teyla... really... s-sorry..."

She looks at him strangely, and he wonders why he feels so breathless doing nothing down here on the ground. Now she looks mad again and her head tilts slightly,

"Colonel...?", she says sharply, but her eyes never leave Rodney's.

"Something is wrong...", she continues, and her hands are warm on his; she doesn't care that they are bloodstained.

And it's then that everything just seems to give up, and he pitches forward, face-planting against Teyla's chest - _again_ - and he thinks, how will he ever explain it all to his team mates.

This time though she doesn't kick him off, she simply cradles him to herself, motionless, and he hears her murmured voice vibrate through her chest, words he cannot understand.

A weight is removed from his back... his pack, probably. His shirt is damp, making him shiver, but there are warm hands on him now.

He feels a sting in his thigh, and things get even hazier. He's bumped and jostled, he forgets which way is up. His arms are around someone; he knows it's Teyla.

There is cold, a searing pain, and a fear that just won't be quieted, but through it all, there is Teyla...solid, wonderful Teyla, holding him...

and holding him...

and holding him.

oOo


	2. Chapter 2

oOo

Her breath leaves her in one violent forced exhale, and for a moment she has no idea what is happening. Until, that is, she feels her backside hit the ground, and catches a flash of Rodney's startled face.

She is about to push him off, infuriated by his clumsiness, when she sees a burst of light and feels a strange heat ignite the air around her. A loud crack makes her ears ring.

As the dust clears and she looks around, she sees Ronon and the colonel picking themselves up from the floor.

John asks, "You hurt, Teyla?", and she replies, "No... I am uninjured"

Rodney grumbles and removes his face from her shirt front; it's too dark to see him properly. He's floundering like a landed fish, his dead-weight crushing her; it hurts, so she impatiently uses her knees and elbows to extricate herself from beneath him.

It looks like John is injured, and she forgets Rodney for the moment. The colonel is rubbing gingerly at his shoulder, as Ronon peers through the dimness at the remains of a doorway.

There was an explosion, then...

She draws level with the two men, breathing heavily and brushing at her clothing.

"Are we all okay?", the colonel asks.

She looks pointedly at his shoulder by way of reply, but he dismisses her concern with, "Just bruised... I'll live."

Then, John nods at her.

"Thought you weren't hurt..", he says, his voice low but sharp.

She looks down and is surprised to see blood on her shirt.

"This...? It's not mine... where...?", and her eyes stray back towards the wall and the figure kneeling there.

Ronon says, "His nose is bleeding... McKay? Here..."

He pulls something from his pocket and tosses it to the scientist. Rodney is not moving, choosing to keep still and dab at his bloody nose with his sleeve.

Teyla feels her dark mood lifting; she is no longer angry at Rodney. He pushed her away from the blast, and what he lacked in coordination, he made up for in spirit. She finds herself smiling at him.

"You did not have to prove yourself so soon, Rodney... but I thank you nonetheless"

He still does not move, his face in shadow. He seems oblivious to the dressing lying next to his knee.

She drops to her knees and retrieves it, handing it to him. She thinks it strange that he is so quiet; perhaps he is remembering their earlier disagreement. She knows she can fix this right away, so she does...

"Next time, do not push with your _head_...", she says playfully, expecting an easy return to their usual good-natured chatter.

Instead, as he turns into to the light, she sees a face so pale it brings from her a startled gasp. The eyes that stare out of that face are old and distant. She is shocked to see that he is weeping. She feels now the first stirrings of real worry...

"M'sorry, T-Teyla... really... s-sorry...", he says brokenly, the words slurring together in a way she has never heard him speak before.

"Colonel...?", she says, "Something is wrong...", because it most definitely is wrong.

Still though, when he collapses onto her, his head lolling, she is taken by surprise. She hears astonished sounds from behind her, and a little puff of air as Rodney exhales into her shoulder. His arms hold onto her feebly, so she grasps him as tightly as she dares.

"McKay? What's wrong with him, Teyla?", Sheppard's voice is worried. Ronon is already unclipping the scientist's pack, and he lifts it away carefully.

The smell is unmistakable, so she is ready for the sight of the dark slick of blood sticking Rodney's shirt to his back, but John isn't and she hears his breath catch... sees him flinch.

The blood comes from a place on Rodney's neck where a finger-sized piece of wood is lodged. It sticks straight out, looking dark and cruel. Teyla worries how near it is to the doctor's spine, and at the amount of blood he has already lost.

"John..?", she almost pleads; she wants someone to make all this right, to help Rodney, to make her team whole again.

She is frightened and it is not something she is used to.

There is an injector in John's hand and his face is grim; without a word, he sticks Rodney's thigh with it... straight through the fabric.

"I have you... I have you...", she chants over and over. He is wrapped around her and she around him, and her shoulder receives little bursts of hotness as his breath seeps through to her skin.

When Ronon lifts Rodney carefully and lays him belly down, across his shoulder, she feels oddly bereft, and immediately wants the warm body back. But she cannot carry him, and the big Satedan can move quickly even when burdened, and speed is what is required now.

Rodney's head now hangs slack and unmoving, nose bumping at Ronon's back.

The finger of wood is still there, albeit disguised, cushioned and stabilised with a bright white wad of bandage; but to Teyla, it is murderous and very real, and she imagines it protruding from her own body, where it certainly should have been, were it not for this man's stupid bravery.

When they make their run for the gate, she is at the rear, with Ronon and his unconscious passenger right in front of her.

She tells them that she'll keep watch on Rodney; but she puts her head down to run, and, although she tries and tries, she cannot bring herself to look.

oOo

One more chapter to go, and I shouldn't be writing this as I'm trying to finish a Christmas fic before the holidays are over! But this idea came to me and wouldn't keep quiet.

Thanks for your reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying it.xxx


	3. Chapter 3

Bit of naughty swearing coming up...

oOo

It occurs to Rodney that he's upside down; the stupid orange suit he's wearing suffocates him and makes him sweat. He swings back and forth sickeningly, and the blood has become a solid mass in his head. The big man with the dreads is going to shoot him, so he tries to beg for his life, like the coward that he is.

His babbling is interrupted by hard edged words,

"Stop talking, McKay. Teyla? Pick it up! Sheppard's dialling..."

Making no sense to him the words drift away, and he opens his eyes to a moment of clarity. His nose hurts and he wishes it wasn't being bumped continuously against something hard. He tries to turn his head. Now his neck hurts; he wonders if he has whiplash. There is a smell of old overcoats, and also that metallic tang of spilled blood.

He thinks he sees upside down trees, but really they could be anything...

His body comes to an abrupt stop, and the air is still and quiet around him. His dangling arms come into view, and he sees that he's not wearing an orange suit after all, and yet he still feels super-heated and dizzy.

A pair of eyes appear, and they look strange; they are Sheppard's.

"...not shoot m-me today...", he tells the colonel, his tongue like a stick in his mouth.

Sheppard's brows knit, but he is apparently not interested, and says nothing.

Then the wormhole swallows him up.

oOo

_Crap_... he's upside down again, and this time he's had enough.

"...want... up..", he struggles because his hands are by his side which is very strange. The back side of him is cold and uncomfortable, while the front doesn't belong to him. It seems to no longer exist... it's so warm, like he's pressed up against the wall of a sauna.

There's movement around him, which also leads to confusion.

Voices are one minute at his head and next minute by his suspended feet. But, no... his feet are down, not up. Suddenly he feels very sick; he's panting and his head roots around for a suitable place to throw up.

The world swoops...

Okay, this is crazy... now he's _standing_?

He feels a cold edge brought to his chin and then nature does its thing and he loses his stomach painfully.

Something wipes at his face and it smells wet and clean and good.

His eyes blink open and he immediately recognises the infirmary. He's not standing up and yet his head seems at the correct level for being upright. He's certainly not hanging upside down, that much is obvious.

He makes out that he's lying on his belly, with his right cheek glued - by the miracle of drool - to a small, thin pillow. He's strapped to some kind of torture table; the kind that tilts for the convenience of the torturer.

Speaking of... doctors (torturers)... here is Carson. He looks cross. He's playing with a control pad and messing with the table Rodney's attached to.

"Stop yer thrashing, Rodney.", says the severe voice of the doctor.

Rodney tries to say, _go to hell_. It sounds nothing like, _go to hell_.

"Are ye swearin' at me now, lad? Good for you, ye' bad tempered lump..."

The doctor's face looms up, big and scary, and Rodney tries not to whimper.

"Keep still, alright? It's not for much longer, we just need another wee look."

The table moves, pulling him away from Carson, and posting him into a slot in the wall. Panic stirs in him; he feels like he's in a coffin. It's dark for a moment and then lights appear.

A disembodied voice orders, "Still, now, Rodney... Thankyou"

The scan is over and the machine spits him out into the stark brightness of the infirmary.

He wants to say, _what the fuck's going on?,_ but hears instead, "Wh. th...mff..ff..?"

"Enough with the swearin'...! There're ladies present.", and he hears tinkling feminine laughter from somewhere.

There is silence for a heartbeat or two; then, "Good, very good", says Carson.

The big face is back, and it directs him to, "Go to sleep now"

He doesn't argue; he goes to sleep.

oOo

"I am in your debt, Rodney" and she says it like she's explaining something to a small child.

He immediately says, "No... you're not", and shakes his head, even though his neck stings. He really doesn't want that, to be owed something... to be that important to someone.

He is sitting up against a heaping of pillows, sideways on, so that the dressing on the back of his neck isn't crushed or knocked off. He's turned to face the Athosian woman, who perches on the edge of a chair near the head of the bed.

With no damage to his spine, and possibilities like massive infection and hypo-volemic shock already dealt with, Carson believes he will recover fully within the next week or so. Yeah, but there's a hole in his neck... something that creeps him out and leaves him reluctant to venture anywhere near the bulky dressing that irritates and musses his hair at the back.

He gives her a lop-sided grin,

"Look, you're the brave one, I just reacted, you know... like always."

His voice sounds weak to his own ears; it's late evening, and it's ridiculous that all the excitement happened only that morning. He's tired and his body feels empty, still, even after the transfusion they gave him earlier.

Teyla's head tilts, one eye brow lifts...

"Bravery?! What is _bravery_?", she demands, and he is instantly anxious; what has he said now?

"Is it knowing how to fight? Is it being able to kill?" now she is leaning towards him and he in turn moves back, uncomfortable with the closeness and with the accusatory tone she seems to be using.

Then, magically, all tension leaves her and her face softens.

Teyla takes his hands in hers, and leaning over touches her forehead to his. For once in his life he is speechless.

Shaking her head gently against his, she smiles, and her eyes seem to radiate strength from her very soul. Her hands clasp his, and her voice is low.

"No, it is none of these things. It is risking yourself for another... it is putting fear behind you... it is turning away from safety and running full pelt into danger. You could have saved yourself today, my _good_ friend, instead you saved me. I thank you, Rodney... for being the brave one, I thank you"

It seems impossible, but he's embarrassed and delighted at the same time.

"...Y'welcome...", he mumbles into his shoulder, more overcome than he thought he could be.

After a few long seconds, she releases his hands, which immediately feel the lack of her, and he clears his throat.

"Teyla, I don't want you to think... that you're just a woman to me."

Her eyes glitter, and she bats her eyelashes, playfully,

"But I am a woman, am I not?", she asks in mock indignation, folding her arms deliberately.

"Now you're teasing me...", he complains, with a long-suffering sigh, and he, also, folds his arms.

"Yes, I am", she replies, and her eyes just shine.

oOo

Well, that's the end... apologies if you were hankering after something more substantial. I have to put my efforts into the other story I'm writing, so I hope you will forgive me!xxx


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